The latest comparisons on salary (one of several issues) makes it look like they are almost there (except the district wants to spread it out over three years and the union wants it in two years). This kind of letter-writing pressure can help get this done.

Good letter.

And BTW Here are all the email addresses of the Seattle School Board for those of you who would like to copy/paste:

sharon.peaslee@seattleschools.org, sherry.carr@seattleschools.org, harium.martin-morris@seattleschools.org, sue.peters@seattleschools.org, stephan.blanford@seattleschools.org, martha.mclaren@seattleschools.org, betty.patu@seattleschools.org.

Wonderful

Absolutely fantastic

Can someone explain to me something: Seattle schools are funded by the state and by local property taxes. The state payments are not changing, this means that either the property taxes are high enough to support a raise for teachers or property taxes have to be raised and since people support raising taxes, then this should not be a budget issue at all (unless people actually don't support property tax increases in which case they really don't support the teachers).

If the SPS Administration (not sure they're deserving of that being capitalized) weren't so top heavy with overpaid peeps who are pretty ineffective, there would be enough money. There are some fabulous people working at district headquarters, but they are few and far between.

People need to know some facts that SPS is trying to get approved. The district has federal oversight looking on it because they've completely and utterly failed with Seattle kids who need special services. There are teacher/aide ratios that are set for how many need to be in each classroom based on the number of kids there are. SPS rarely uses those ratios. Oftentimes, that number is double what it should be. And yet, they are still arguing about that. Why won't they agree on those proven ratios? Can anyone explain that?

This strike is about SO MUCH MORE than money. Our state should have ONE OF THE BEST PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICTS in the country. We have one of the worst. We're at the bottom in so many categories. Weed the overpaid district staff down to essential needs, and put that money into classrooms.

And pay the School Board more so they actually care what happens and are not just puppets for the too-long-list-of-AWFUL-Superintendants we've had since we lost John Stanford. Sue Peterson is the only one who votes her cconvictions. We need six more like her.

Parent of three SPS kids.

That should say SCHOOL SYSTEMS, not districts, in that second-to-last paragraph above.

I just wanted to throw in my vote on the side of all teachers! Until the day that teachers make more than fucking CEO's--I'm down with giving them everything that they ask for!

Xavier Lopez Jr.
Muralist, Sculptor and Blogger At the Post Intelligencer Culture Blogs

A huge thank you to Paul Mullin and all of the other wonderful parents who support teachers now & throughout the year!